Conor McGregor has agreed to take on Irish rival Luke Keeler in a boxing match following a row about his alleged assault of an old man in Dublin, according to reports.
A video which appeared to show the UFC fighter smacking a man in an argument over a drink of whisky emerged last week.
McGregor’s rival, WBO European middleweight champion Keeler then took to Twitter to slam the fighter, writing, ‘I’d be happy to put him in his place if he had the balls to step in a ring again.’
TMZ Sports/YouTubeKeeler has since claimed he received a phone call from McGregor, in which he verbally accepted his offer of a fight.
Keeler told Irish-Boxing.com:
I don’t want to get into it too much, but I know he wasn’t happy about the call out. He is not happy.
The fight community in Ireland is small enough and Crumlin isn’t too far from Ballyfermot- and I heard he wasn’t happy with the timing of it.
He rang me and we had a few words. I told him the fight was there to be made and he was all for it. He agreed to fight over the phone.
McGregor’s only previous appearance in a boxing ring came when he was beaten by Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
PA ImagesKeeler added that his management company, MTK Global, is in discussions to make the Irish fight happen, or to decipher whether McGregor is ‘just all talk’.
The boxer continued:
I agree it could be just all talk.
Whether he has the balls or not to get in the ring again, never mind with me, we will have to see.
He could have been just trying to front up or speaking in anger, but it got to the stage where I felt comfortable enough passing onto my management team.
Like I said, I don’t want to get into that much yet, but I have handed it over to MTK and they’re talking to Conor.
He has agreed to fight after a shouting match on phone but doubtful he will. It would be quickest way for him to get Irish people’s respect back but respect and class is something he has none of and something money can’t buy 👊🏼🍀 https://t.co/HPyM10Sqhw
— Coolhand Luke (@luke_keeler) August 18, 2019
Keeler continued to bait his rival on Twitter, suggesting he should go through with the fight to ‘get Irish people’s respect back’.
He wrote:
He has agreed to fight after a shouting match on phone but doubtful he will.
It would be quickest way for him to get Irish people’s respect back but respect and class is something he has none of and something money can’t buy.
McGregor is yet to comment on the prospective fight.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.